The present disclosure relates to devices and methods for forming heterogeneous materials using microfluidics.
Materials with a spatially non-uniform composition that is closely linked to their function are common in nature and often possess a hierarchical architecture with length scales ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several millimeters. Currently available strategies for creating materials with an organized microscale composition mimic nature's ability in two ways: by initially preparing building blocks and subsequently assembling them along fluid interfaces and by replica molding. These strategies necessitate a sequence of processing steps and often lack spatiotemporal control. To date, the controlled formation of heterogeneous soft materials has been limited to particles (e.g., encapsulated and Janus particles) and coded fibers.